Yearbook 2006

The mammalian heart is not able to regenerate lost cardiac tissue after substantial injuries, instead the heart is repaired by scar formation. Newts and Zebrafish however are able to fully regenerate their hearts without scarring. On of the current projects at the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research is to understand, how cardiac regeneration takes place in non-mammalian vertebrates. This could provide new approaches that stimulate regenerative pathways in the human heart. more

Research about the Renaissance commentaries to the Mechanical Problems by Pseudo-Aristotle was started within the project Epistemic History of Architecture by the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. Its focus was the relationship between these commentaries and the architectural treatises. This line of investigation pointed out the importance of the In mechanica Aristotelis problemata exercitationes (1621, posthumous) by Bernardino Baldi (1553–1617). more

Cognitive limitations, such as forgetting, are often regarded as severe liability of the human mind. In contrast to that view, the article argues that these limitations are integral to the proper functioning of human thought. To understand when and why cognitive limitations can be helpful, researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development take an ecological perspective and argue the success of human behavior depends on the interplay between the human mind and the environment. more

The aim of the COACTIV project („Professional Competence of Teachers, Cognitively Activating Instruction, and the Development of Students’ Mathematical Literacy“) is to investigate mathematics teachers’ competence and the way it relates to instructional processes. Teacher competence is a multi-dimensional construct that encompasses aspects of teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and psychological functioning. By assessing these aspects in a sample of mathematics teachers, and linking these aspects to features of classroom instruction, as well as to the development of students’ mathematical literacy, COACTIV aims to provide unique insights into the prerequisites of students’ mathematical learning. First results are reported here. more